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Sunday, August 22, 2010

08-22-10 Sunday

Well I'm still on 8 hours mandatory OT at work, hence the sporadic postings.

Still fighting the CH beast and am lucky to get 1 day per week with out a CH hit. I am still on a waiting list to get into see another Neurologist that specializes in CH and migraine issues. Can't wait to get in to see him.


Recently I was on the CH.com message board and a member there mentioned the affect CH has on his personality and how that in tern affects his family.

Here is how I look at it;
Dealing with CH is a little like dealing with a death in the family. You go through stages, denial (not a river), Anger (yes the "Shining" does come to mind), and despair/depression (can be as deep and wide as the ocean).

These stages do not go away after the initial diagnosis is made, this is a continuing state of mind and existence for a CH'er. For many CH is a life changing experience, one which we all would rather do without! The denial, anger and despair/depression are like a revolving door a CH'er keeps going through them one after another, over and over again. Hey who wouldn't after day in day out getting poked in the head with a red hot fire poker?

The importance of talking to your family and having them talk back can't be stressed enough. Explaining this to family members can be difficult, but using the above analogy and explanation may help them understand what you are going through.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Sunday 07-18-10

Wow...Rough weekend.

Had CH hits at work on Thursday and Friday of last week took the nasal on Thursday...Should have taken a shot Hit turned ugly and my supervisor notice. (God I hate when people can tell just by looking at me what a mess I am.) Took Shot for Friday's hit, after the previous day I wasn't going to mess around.

Then Saturday came, and I was wishing I could go back to Thursday. Had 3 hits on Sat. one at 3pm, 10:30pm and again at 2:00am woken out of a sound sleep by this ugly beast we call CH. I'd like to tell him were he can put his pitchfork.

Sunday has been good so far no hits!!
Even better my sons girlfriend held true to her promise that while she was away in Georgia she'd bring back some Fresh Georgia Peaches. Talk about mouth watering... Thanks P. and to T. my son for picking such a sweet girlfriend.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Monday 7-05-10

Just a quick update on my battle with CH.
I've not gone one full week without a battle royal with the Beast we call CH.

I have had to stop the Kudzu due to adverse reactions of various sorts and red bull is not an option for me either, tears my stomach up too much. I am still using the O2 at home and Imitrex at work for CH hits. I am also still on the Verapamil SR since it works better for me than the non SR and I take 320 mg to 480 mg per day.
I drink about 4-5 cups of coffee per day to help keep the beast at bay, this has helped at work, when I feel a CH hit coming on I go for a Fresh cup of coffee. I still take an allergy pill at night, Cetirizine; which is the generic form of Zyrtec to help avoid night time hits. This does help me get more good nights sleep than bad. I still can not use melatonin since for some reason it is a trigger for me, so an allergy pill it is.

In the past two weeks I've barely gone a day without a CH hit, be it mild or kick ass wicked. I don't think the high heat temperatures are helping, but then again neither do the stormy conditions.

For milder hits either at work or at home, I have begun using deep breathing to help avoid a full blown CH hit, it has worked for me on more than a few occasions.

Here's to hoping for just One pain free week, Ok so I'd settle for a day, but would prefer at least a week!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

A Safe, Happy and Pain Free Independence Day to all !!


Sunday, June 6, 2010

06-06-10 Sunday



Looks like we're in for a bumpy ride with barometer today, oh joy CH hits on the way. I'd like to return my head now please, or at least trade it in for a better model.

Been working hard as usual and thankfully we had no OT last week and non again this week WOOOHOOO!

Nothing much new here SSDD if you get my drift. Just wanted to check in and add a post while I'm able to today. As you can see from the above storm pic, my Dad, my son and myself are in for a Head Banging day.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

05-09-10 Sunday

Here I am still...
Took a road trip on Friday for my 6mo. neuro check up, bitch of a trip, had CH attack while driving back home from app. this is always a given since air pressure changes seem to cause some of my attacks. Check up was the usual, nothing new still suffering with CH. The Doc gave me samples of the new SUMAVEL DosePro needles injector telling me it was cheaper than the shots to use. Now I'm wondering after hitting the CH msg board if he fibbed to me since at least one member there tells me his insurance would not cover it since it was so expensive, so for now he is sticking to the shots. Great just what I needed to hear. < Note Sarcasm >

On another note you'd think the needless injector would look more like something from Star Trek or Star Gate but it looks more like something from the Jetsons LOL


I am still working LOTS of Over Time at work which isn't helpful when dealing with CH, not to mention that I am getting so exhausted that I'm not sure which end is up anymore.

The last 72 hours have been hell started with hit on Friday due to travel and yesterday I went for the O2 so many times I lost count. Last O2 trip was at 4am oh joy, gave up at that point and just left it on so if I needed it again all I had to do was reach for the mask that was in bed next to me. I have an O2 machine that runs at 5 lpm which helps avoid a shot or the nasal imitrex usage when I'm at home. I can't take it to work with me so at work it's shots or nasal imitrex. (Same s&*! different day there.)

I am still CH Chronic and have at least 2-3 attacks per week more if it's a bad week. Some attacks are mild some are Killer. The killer ones I have to take something to stop them if they are more mild I'll fight through them if at work if possible or use the nasal if they increase to the point were I can't function. Other wise its shot time or if at home running for the O2.

When the people I work with aren't getting freaked out by the CH they are pretty understanding and just keep their distance when I have one, needless to say you can tell just by looking at me if I am having a CH hit.

Due to the OT I've been working I haven't been updating much here and in all honesty am getting tired of writing the same ol' s&*!, but I do need to keep this going since it is a helpful log for me and in the end it may wind up helping someone else. Needless to say I have had too numerous CH hits to remember or log each one in the last month so I am generalizing my posting as far as my hits go.

I hope to post again in a month or so, since the OT at work is continuing until further notice or until we get laid off which ever comes first...Long story there and not posting about it here, sorry company policy.

Until next time Stay Pain Free!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

04-11-10 Sunday

I have been working anywhere from 5 to 8 hours over time at work, still. I need a Clone to get done all the things I need to in my personal life aside from work stuff ugh...
Anyway I'm still having a rough time with the CH beasty, still get them constantly year round but seem to get more of them in spring and fall. Have one shot left to get me to the 15 when I can refill prescription again. May have to fork over the 200.00+ bucks to get an additional shot pack to get me through the next month since my meager surplus is GONE.

I've been using an Invacare 5 oxygen generator which actually maxes out at 5-7 LPM it does help, takes a bit longer and a bit more often uses to get me out of a CH hit but at least I can conserve on my shots of Imitrex.

Venting...
Oh Doc why won't you just prescribe the O2 I need for CH ? If I gave a crap about my blood O2 levels I wouldn't have smoked for years, dumbass. It is a proven medical fact that O2 helps with CH and is probably healthier than all the Imitrex I am forced to use to kill a CH hit. Spend a few minutes checking out all the research, info and all the other CH sufferers that use O2, instead of writing off a patient that is suffering.

Other Stuff;
Got my Huyndai fixed, my son made the deans list again :D and my daughter got a new dog a beagle named Blue. Dads doing ok, but he's been having the same barrel of laughs as I have with CH hits. Note the sarcasm.

Till next time Stay Pain Free!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

2-27-10 Saturday

For those of you who think you are having a hard time lately here's what happened to me this last week.

Tuesday:
My day started at 3:30am being woken from a sound sleep by one of the worst Cluster Headache hits I've had in awhile there was no way I could drive in the condition I was in so I had to call off work . My shots weren't even working on this CH attack. Then as the pain finally started to leave around 1pm, I checked my bank acc. to make sure I had funds to surprise Dad with a nice B-day dinner for him...WELL someone got a hold of my bank card information and had started to clean me out. So far I'd lost 360.00 plus from my acc. and they were trying to clean me out the rest of the way. After about an hour or so on the phone with the bank, I had to go down and file a police report on fraud to my acc. Nope days not over yet... My son Ty has moved back home from the dorm at the college, (I'm glad and it's nice to have him here ) but the poor kid was sent home from college yesterday with a nasty stomach virus that put his girl friend in the hospital, he's ill and worried about her. I've been checking on him on and off to make sure he doesn't get dehydrated enough to warrant a hospital visit neither of us can afford.

Wednesday Through Friday:
**Were supposed to be vacation days off work.**

Fairly uneventful with exception to dealing with a few CH hits and a police detective regarding Tuesdays discovered fraud on my account.

That Is Until Friday night / Saturday Morning 2:13 am was woken out of a sound sleep by a Loud BANG and a car speeding away. Looked out my bedroom window to see that some one had hit my Jeep (keep in mind we live on a one way street) in the front drivers side corner and knocked it back up onto the sidewalk! This Drunk, (I assume Drunk, because with 2 feet of snow on the ground what dumbshit is going to drive back wards up a ONE way street in the middle of the night?) totaled the front drivers side quarter of my jeep.

So On top of being robbed 360.00 plus from my acc. I now have to shell out a 500.00 deductible.

Pics of the damage the drunk dumbshit caused will be uploaded later today. My son was an awesome help with taking pictures of the damage and trying to keep me calm.

Thanks Son your help was appreciated!

Pics of damage:

Huydai Damage 8

Huydai Damage 7

Huydai Damage 6

Huydai Damage 5

Huydai Damage 4

Huydai Damage 3

Huydai Damage 2

Huydai Damage 1

Sunday, January 17, 2010

1-17-10 Sunday

Well hello again and a belated Happy New Year!

I've been busy working massive amounts of mandatory OT at work. How many different ways can one say, I'm Frigging BEAT!!! Up at 4am, leave at 5:30am, at work by 6am and don't get home until around 5pm. YAWN.................

Anyway I have had many CH hits since my last post and gone through more shots than I can shake a stick at. Have been hit quite a few times at work recently and scared the crap out of our new tech and one of the supervisors to boot. They were so freaked out that they offered to drive me home and when I refused that option they made me go to the "sick room" at work...What a joke. I spent 25 min. in a darkened room (the sick room) in a recliner with a sink in the room, waiting for the shot I'd just taken to take affect. I went back out to my desk and both of them came to me asking if I was ok, well stick a red hot poker in your eye twist it around a bit until it feels like your eyeball is about to pop out, take a shot, and then work on recovering from all that. You ok ? LOL My reply to them was "I will be eventually..." I have found it is best for me to keep busy while waiting for a shot to take affect during a CH hit, other wise I just want to break something or rock back and forth and cry until the pain stops. I finally got this point across to our tech, but we now have a New supervisor and am waiting for the freak out from her. I might have prevented this though or at least I hope I have, I sent the "letter" to my tech a few weeks ago and I think she's discussed it or forwarded it to our new supervisor, as I'd noticed funny looks shooting my way the other day when I had a CH hit, from both the tech and sup. along with whisperings between the two. From what I gathered later on the new sup was asking the tech how I was doing...she was told "shaky, but ok". Damn right I was shaky LOL

Anyway I have had anywhere from 1-5 CH hits per week the last few months and have had to fight my way through a few with out a shot or waiting for the freakin nasal imitrex to work. The weather is playing havoc with them as well, I don't know what I did to piss mother nature off, but I have been apologizing profusely for what ever slight I might have cause her.

Just wanted to update while I have the chance since, we are still on mandatory OT at work I'm not sure when I'll have the chance to post again, hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.

Till then Stay Pain Free!